After the Rain
by Trixi
Summary: A poem/story about Vitani's feelings after the war at Pride Rock.
1. Look At The Sky, Vitani

Sometimes...Vitani wondered. She wondered why she tried. Looking up at the pale moon lifted by the shadowy darkness of night made her fur stand on end. Countless stars...countless. All of them trailing above her. She stood, watched, and listened. She listened to the earth...the trees...her soul. She watched over the beloved kingdom of Pride Rock, feeling a sudden surge of power and dignity. Courage and strength and refinemnet.  
  
Renewed, Vitani threw back her head and let out a tremendous roar that shook at the earth. She felt her world crumble beneath her as if it were never there. And Vitani, daughter of Zira, brother to Nuka, waited. She waited. She waited...Waited for a chance to seek a friend. Waited for the day she'd prove her dignity. Waiting for a chance to strike her world. She'd strike at it for destroying her. Her past seemed like a breathtaking cloud of misery towering above her. When...when would she be able to breath the air she called her own?  
  
When?? When would she find pride in her own little soul. When? How? How could she except the fact she was nearly gone. Her world had begun to tear apart...  
  
KIARA: Hello, Vitani. Enjoying the evening?  
  
VITANI: Oh, hi.  
  
KOVU: Glad you're back. Where the hell were you??  
  
KIARA: Shh!  
  
VITANI: I thought I knew.  
  
KIARA: You were gone for quite a while.  
  
VITANI: I...I need to be alone. To find my place.  
  
KOVU: Wha-?  
  
KIARA: I don't undetsand. You belong here...with me. And Kovu. We love you like family.  
  
VITANI: "Like" family?? What, am I being accepted SUDDENLY???  
  
KIARA: No...I meant...  
  
VITANI: Stop it! Stop acting like you care! You don't know how it is to be me!  
  
Vitani ran into the darkness of shadows. She was never seen again. She failed as a daughter...a friend...she was off. To find herself. 


	2. Finding Dignity

Vitani looked at the sky dotted with summer clouds. Puffy. White. Beautiful. The jungle was embraced with fragrant smells of evergreen. Dawn reached the sky and sunlight  
  
poured into the open branches. "WHY?" Vitani said aloud.  
  
VITANI: "Why does no one love me?" Tears came to her eyes. She lowered her head in defiance.  
  
VOICE: "Hellooooo...."  
  
VITANI: "What? Who is there?" She lifted her head and stared blankly into the pitch black.  
  
VOICE: "Helloo...hellooo..." The voice cackled like a monkey and a dark demented shape leaped across the trees.  
  
VITANI: "Damn! It's Rafiki!" She hid in the underbrush and breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
RAFIKI: "Vitani! Is that you? Hellooo hellloooooo!"  
  
VITANI: "Shut up and leave me alone!" She hid her face in her paws to hide her shame.  
  
RAFIKI: "UH?" He edged closer, watching her lay in the underbrush. "I can see you are upset. Verrry upset."  
  
VITANI: "You JUST noticed?" Annoyed and terribly irked, Vitani leapt to her feet and started to run. Faster...faster...faster...  
  
RAFIKI: "You can't keep running from your life!" But his voice was distant now.  
  
Vitani ran and ran until she gasped and fell in exhaustion. She was miles from home and lost in a dense jungle. 'It wasn't my home,' she thought.  
  
'No one tells me what to do! Damn right!' She fell asleep soon. Night's blanket crept over her, keeping her safe and her soul protected. She slept....  
  
KIARA: "Kovu, wake up!"  
  
KOVU: "It's early..go away Ki-Ki." (Ki-Ki was Kiara's new nickname)  
  
KIARA: "No, I'm real serious!" She pushed the sleeping lion with her paw and bit his ear.  
  
KOVU: "OW! Jesus!" Kiara burst out laughing. Soon she calmed down.  
  
KIARA: "I-just thought you'd might wanna know your sister ran off."  
  
KOVU: "Well, good riddance!" 


	3. Vitani's Memories

Vitani felt lost and cold...alone and scared...she remembered....  
  
*VITANI'S MEMORY*  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
It was cold and raining. There was blood. There was war.  
  
VITANI: "Where's your pretty daughter, Nala?"  
  
NALA: "VITANI!!" In anger, they lunged for each other and wrestled....  
  
Vitani remembered that day. Cold. Wet. She had been scared and yet proud. Her only purpose, she felt, was to serve her mother. She felt small and  
  
unappreaciated. She could change the world if she hadn't wasted her life on her mother's crazy plans. Sure, she was mad, but she still loved Zira.  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Vitani couldn't bring herself to believe SHE had...in a way...been responsible for Zira's death. "No," she told herself. "No! Zira killed HERSELF.  
  
No! No! She's not crazy! Mother's not crazy! She's...just...mad."  
  
She remembered countless times when Kiara had told her:  
  
KIARA IN VITANI'S MEMORY: "Yes! She WAS crazy, Vitani. She hated everyone and everything. She used you! She never loved you!"  
  
VITANI IN HER MEMORY: "No!! You liar! Shut up! Shut up!"  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
And that's why Vitani hated Kiara.  
  
**************************************************************************** **  
  
KOVU IN VITANI'S MEMORY: "Tan, face it, you're an outcast."  
  
VITANI IN HER MEMORY: "So YOU hate me too! Just because I'm different! Well, get outa here!"  
  
**************************************************************************** ******  
  
And that's why Vitani hated Kovu.  
  
**************************************************************************** ******  
  
She hated Simba because he was king...her leader now...but she needed no leader. She hated Nala because she was Queen and liked Simba.  
  
She hated Rafiki because we was annoying...Nuka because he risked his life to kill....Scar because he abandoned her....Zazu because he was stupid....Timon  
  
because he was happy...she hated a lot of animals.  
  
She loved Zira...only. But now Zira was gone. And Vitani was and truly felt....alone. ALONE ALONE ALONE The word rang in her head  
  
like an annoying fly. A knat, maybe. A bug definatly.  
  
Her memory faded...again she slept. 


	4. Freedom

Vitani sat in a patch of fallen leaves. The sky was creamy yellow/orange and swirly red. Vitani sighed. She let the cool breeze tickle her fur. She felt okay.  
  
Better. Better than before. She was alone...free...happy...she licked her lovely fur and purred. This was better. This was happiness. Vitani loved it.  
  
In the wind  
  
In the rain  
  
There is hope  
  
For love again  
  
I see a star  
  
I see a heart  
  
A lonley reflection  
  
In a cool blue pond  
  
It's me  
  
Yes, it is I  
  
I watch a colored bird fly by  
  
I see  
  
Such majesty  
  
And I know forever  
  
My heart will be free 


	5. Never Again

KIARA: "She's...she's gone Kovu. Just accept it."  
  
The lovely glow of evening embraced the couple as they sat like doves on the tip of Pride Rock and watched the creamy orange sky fade into blackish  
  
mush of darkness.  
  
KOVU: "No! Ki-Ki, sweetie, I know she's not gone. She'll be back...soon."  
  
KIARA: [sighs] "I'm afraid that won't happen soon...or maybe even...ever..."  
  
KOVU: "What are you saying?? Where is she? WHERE IS MY SISTER"  
  
Kovu's heart threw itself into his stomache in panic. WHERE WAS SHE??  
  
KIARA: [tears well up in her eyes]....gone  
  
KOVU: "Is she....dead?"  
  
**************************************************************************** ***************  
  
Vitani felt light, airy silence. As if she were floating on a cloud bank. She felt a warm glow, and then as if she were being shoved into an open shaft.  
  
She moaned. She could see...and she couldn't. She could feel..yet her feelings were so unclear and spongey.  
  
VOICE: "Vitani..."  
  
A strange, cloudy figure approached her. It was large, with eyes of blazing green light and a smokey way of wavering in the dreamy surroundings  
  
of Vitani. It's face resembled Scar/Nuka, with a black top and soft brown tint.  
  
VOICE: "Vitani..."  
  
Vitani neither heard or thought she heard the voice. She felt it. It had meaning...yet it didn't. It was cool...and yet spicy hot flaming misery. It brang  
  
back odd feelings that come from a distant memory.  
  
VITANI: "Nuka? Scar?"  
  
VOICE: "Vitani....It IS you! Oh my! Dear, have I ever been expecting you."  
  
VITANI: "Why am I here? Who are you?"  
  
VOICE: "Who are YOU?"  
  
VITANI: "Oh, stop kidding me! I know who I am! I'm Vitani."  
  
VOICE: "And..."  
  
VITANI: "And...what?"  
  
VOICE: "Oh...Vitani, if only you knew. Knew the truth. Knew reality's deep and tender ways."  
  
VITANI:  
  
VOICE: "Child, do tell me. Are you happy with who you are?"  
  
VITANI: "No, I guess I'm not. Are YOU?"  
  
VOICE: "I represent everything in your past that haunts you. I am your spirit giver. So, yes, my purpose is gifted."  
  
VITANI:  
  
VOICE: "You are a quiet one."  
  
VITANI: "I-I..."  
  
VOICE: "You are scared. You fear your past will hurt your future. You fear you will be treated wrongly because you are different."  
  
VITANI: "Yes...yeah."  
  
VOICE: "But you are beautiful. You are mysterious, giving, caring."  
  
VITANI: "Well...ok. I feel stupid. Knowing...I was wrong."  
  
VOICE: "Are you willing to change?"  
  
VITANI: "Yes."  
  
VOICE: "Well, you can't. Now we'll never know how it would be if you had only....  
  
But the voice was blocked out by a swift blanket of silence. Darkness. Sleep....it was all gone. Everything. She was dead. She had died of a broken  
  
soul and a broken heart. Kiara had found her in the jungle...dead. It was over. Nothing mattered. Her soul had died. Gone like the wind. It was there for a swift  
  
and cooling second...then it wasn't.  
  
AUTHORS NOTE:  
  
That, my dear readers, is where our little story draws to an end. I know it was sad. But I hoped you liked it. Please read/review.  
  
~*~ShEeNa~*~ 


End file.
